How to make your lined paper
- Choose the line spacing. Wide, college or narrow ruled in inches, or 6, 7, 8 or 10 mm lines. Choose Custom size to type any spacing from 4 to 20 mm, in millimeters or as an inch fraction such as 5/16.
- Choose the paper. A4, A3, A5, US Letter, Legal, Tabloid or Half Letter, in portrait or landscape. The lines are drawn for that paper, never stretched from another size.
- Add what you need. A red margin line on the left, a border, a title, and name and date lines for school work. Choose a line color, or black and white, and how dark the lines print.
- Select Download PDF and print at Actual size (100%). The PDF is made in your browser in a second, and nothing is uploaded.
The preview is drawn from the same layout as the PDF, so what you see is what prints. The first line sits one line space below the top of the ruled area, so you can write on it, and the lines run across the whole width inside the margins.
Lined paper line spacing, with lines per page
These are the spacings on this page. The line counts are for a portrait page with the standard 1/2 in (12.7 mm) margins and no title or name line, exactly as the PDF draws it.
| Ruling | Line spacing | In PDF points | Lines on US Letter | Lines on A4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wide ruled | 11/32 in (8.73 mm) | 24.75 pt | 27 | 29 |
| College ruled | 9/32 in (7.14 mm) | 20.25 pt | 34 | 36 |
| Narrow ruled | 1/4 in (6.35 mm) | 18 pt | 38 | 41 |
| 10 mm lines | 10 mm (0.394 in) | 28.35 pt | 24 | 26 |
| 8 mm lines | 8 mm (0.315 in) | 22.68 pt | 30 | 32 |
| 7 mm lines | 7 mm (0.276 in) | 19.84 pt | 34 | 37 |
| 6 mm lines | 6 mm (0.236 in) | 17.01 pt | 40 | 43 |
A PDF point is exactly 1/72 inch, so college ruled lines are exactly 20.25 points apart and wide ruled lines 24.75 points. Millimeter spacings are exact too: 8 mm is 22.68 points to two decimals, and the PDF keeps four decimals.
Wide ruled vs college ruled
The only difference is the gap between the lines. Wide ruled (also called legal ruled) has 11/32 in (8.73 mm) between lines. College ruled (also called medium ruled) has 9/32 in (7.14 mm), which is 2/32 in, or about 1.6 mm, less. On a US Letter page from this site that is 34 college ruled lines against 27 wide ruled ones.
- Wide ruled suits larger handwriting and younger children in grade school, who need more room for each letter.
- College ruled is the usual notebook paper for older students and adults, and fits more on a page.
- Narrow ruled, 1/4 in (6.35 mm), suits small, neat handwriting and note taking.
Wikipedia's article on ruled paper gives the same three sizes:
Wide ruled (or legal ruled) paper has 11⁄32 in (8.7 mm) spacing between horizontal linesWikipedia, Ruled paper
These are the usual sizes in the US rather than a formal standard, and notebooks you buy can differ slightly. If you need to match a particular notebook, measure the gap over ten lines and divide by ten, then use Custom size.
A4 lined paper and metric rulings
Outside the US and Canada, lined paper is usually measured in millimeters. Wikipedia's article on ruled paper says that in the UK the line spacing for adult ruled paper is most commonly 8 mm. 7 mm suits smaller writing and 10 mm larger writing. Choose A4 and 8 mm for a standard sheet, or A5 for a binder or planner insert.
A4 is 210 x 297 mm and US Letter is 8.5 x 11 in (215.9 x 279.4 mm). Make the PDF for the paper in your printer: an A4 sheet printed on Letter paper at 100% loses about 17.6 mm in all, roughly 8.8 mm at the top and 8.8 mm at the bottom.
The red margin line is drawn 1 1/4 in (31.75 mm) from the left edge of the paper, where Wikipedia's article places the margin on US wide and college ruled paper. In black and white it prints gray.
How to print it true to size
The lined paper is drawn as a vector PDF at exactly the size you choose. An inch is exactly 25.4 mm, and the PDF measures everything in points of exactly 1/72 inch, so 1 mm is 72 / 25.4 points. The spacing is worked out for every line from the top of the sheet, not added up step by step, so no rounding builds up down the page.
Your printer can still change the size. To keep it exact:
- Choose the same paper in the print dialog as on this page (for example A4 or US Letter).
- Set the scale to 100% or Actual size. Turn off "Fit to page", "Shrink oversized pages" and "Scale to fit". Adobe's help says Fit reduces or enlarges each page to fit the printable area, which changes the spacing.
- Measure the check-ruler. At the bottom of every sheet there is a printed scale of exactly 5 cm, or 2 in for inch sizes. Lay a ruler along it. If it measures 5 cm (or 2 in), every line on the sheet is true to size. If it is shorter, the printer shrank the page; print again at 100%.
The PDF also asks your viewer to print without scaling, though not every viewer follows that setting. Most home printers cannot print right to the edge of the paper, so the standard margin is 1/2 in (12.7 mm). The narrow 1/4 in (6.35 mm) margin may be clipped by some printers.
Lined paper for kindergarten and early writers
Children who are just learning to form letters usually write on paper with a dashed middle line as well as a top line and a baseline. For that, use the handwriting paper page, which has line heights from 3/8 in to 1 1/8 in and can print words to trace. Once letters are steady, wide ruled or 10 mm lined paper is the usual next step.
Questions and answers
What is the line spacing of college ruled paper?
College ruled paper usually has lines 9/32 in apart, which is 7.14 mm or 20.25 PDF points. On this site it gives 34 lines on a US Letter page with half-inch margins.
What is the line spacing of wide ruled paper?
Wide ruled paper usually has lines 11/32 in apart, which is 8.73 mm or 24.75 PDF points. It is also called legal ruled.
Which is bigger, wide ruled or college ruled?
Wide ruled has the bigger gap between lines: 11/32 in against 9/32 in for college ruled. So wide ruled fits fewer lines on a page and gives more room for large handwriting.
What line spacing is A4 lined paper?
A4 lined paper is most often ruled at 8 mm, with 7 mm and 10 mm also common. All three are on this page, and Custom size lets you choose any spacing from 4 to 20 mm.
Can I make lined paper without the red margin line?
Yes. Untick Red margin line on the left and the lines run the full width inside the page margins.
Why is my printout smaller than it should be?
The printer or PDF viewer scaled the page to fit, usually because "Fit to page" or "Shrink to fit" was on. Print again with the scale set to 100% or Actual size, and with the same paper size selected as on this page. The 5 cm (or 2 in) check-ruler at the bottom of the sheet shows straight away whether it worked.
Is anything I type saved or uploaded?
No. The paper and the PDF are made in your browser on your own device. Your options and any text you type are not saved or sent, so if you reload the page you start again from the defaults.
Can I copy, share or sell these sheets?
Yes. You can print, copy and share them for home, school and work. You may also sell printed copies or the PDFs, as long as the print.dexaloop.com credit line at the foot of each page stays on it, unchanged and readable. The Terms page has the details.
Sources
Checked on 13 October 2026. If a size has changed, please tell us.